My Year of Yoga
I don’t really do New Year’s Resolutions, or set many goals for myself for a year. There have been years when I do, like when I decided to get serious about flossing my teeth, but generally I take care of things as they come up. Last year, though, I decided that I wanted to do 30 days of Yoga in January. I had been kind of doing yoga for a couple of years, mostly through the Yoga with Adriene channel on YouTube. It’s been quite a few years since I took an in person yoga class. Adriene Mishler has been offering yoga videos on YouTube since 2012, and for the 10 years between 2015 to 2024, she had a 30 Day Yoga Journey in January. I decided I would do the 2024 Journey. It was fun! It was lovely to know that people all over the world were doing the same yoga video I was doing, even if not at exactly the same time. I noticed that a daily yoga practice really helped with my neck, my back, and my balance. I still have twinges of pain sometimes (I’m 59 after all), but it is SO much better than the couple day a week thing. I liked it so much that I decided to keep it up for February, and then March, and then for the entire year.
What I learned is that a daily yoga practice is different than a 2 or 3 day a week yoga practice. Doing it a couple of days a week, when the theme for the day was going to be restorative yoga or something kind of slow, I felt frustrated and like I was cheating by not getting my exercise. Doing it every day, I felt more like she had planned and curated the lessons, so there was a good balance of more challenging lessons among the restorative ones. I also learned that the restorative lessons are good for me too. Not just my muscles, but also my brain and my emotions. Also, following her videos year by year, I noticed little differences. For example, in the first couple of years, there was a big difference in the length of the video. One day might be 50 minutes, and the next might be 15 minutes. And her sweet dog, Benji, wasn’t there in the early 30 Day Journeys, as he was a puppy then. Overall I enjoyed them all, but I enjoyed the more recent years the most when the length of the videos became more consistent and Benji was always there.
Once I completed all 10 30 Day Yoga Journeys, I repeated the 2024 sequence, and then I decided to try her monthly calendar instead. The monthly calendar is a month of videos that span the entire 13 years of her available lessons. The month I tried this was December 2024, and there were quite a few lessons that were slow, introverted, and thoughtful. I think perhaps that suits the time of year. I switched a few when I caught a cold the other day. She has yoga videos to do when you are sick (like for January 11th coming up, what does she know?), which are mostly very gentle stretching, and which felt just right for where I was. Some of the videos are old enough that her prior dog, Blue, makes a guest appearance, which was fun. The January 2025 calendar, above, looks to be more energetic (though not all), which I am looking forward to.
In case you’d like links to the 10 years of 30/31 day yoga journeys she has created, here they are.
30 Days of Yoga – 2015
Yoga Camp – 2016
Revolution – 2017
True – 2018 (We start to see more of Benji this year!)
Dedicate – 2019
Home – 2020 (Aptly named, right? We weren’t in lockdown yet in January, and certainly not when she was creating these videos, but there really couldn’t be a better name for 2020.)
Breath – 2021
Move – 2022 (This was the year I started doing her videos a couple of days a week. I told my cousin I needed to do my yoga every day on our vacation to France. Guess how many days I even tried? Zero.)
Center – 2023
Flow – 2024
For 2025, Adriane is not going to have a 30 Day January practice, they retired that with 2024. She is, however, going to have a 7 Day Prana practice at the start of her January Calendar. You can find the entire month’s worth of videos here, though new videos will become available day by day.
Does anyone want to do the 7 day Prana practice with me, beginning January 1st? I know that some of you do Yoga with Adriene as part of your exercise plan. Have you done one of the 30 Day series in January? Do you pay for the extra content with her Find What Feels Good videos?
25 Comments
Maya
I’m going to say YES!!!
(It’s still early in the morning and I’m being impulsive since I’ve never checked her out before, so I will confirm later… but I love the idea.)
J
Yay! I’m going to have a yoga buddy!!!!
Maya
Scrambling to find the links today 🙂
J
I hope you found it! Here is the link to the entire month, and a new practice will post for each of the first 8 days: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLui6Eyny-Uzxr6Hxojv-6-Hxj2eoLkYLq
Elisabeth
I did her 30-day series last January (I noticed real differences in my flexibility in just that short time) and then did yoga daily in February, a chunk of March and then…not much the rest of the year. But I did join a yoga studio. I definitely hope to incorporate lots of yoga into my days in 2025, but I know I won’t be able to match your incredible streak. Go Julie!!!!
J
Your 2024 yoga was me with my strength training…I started out strong, and petered off to rarely doing it. Except you joined a yoga studio, and I did not join a gym. I did start doing strength training about 5 weeks ago though, so there’s hope!
AC
Good for you for being able to keep up the routine. I have trouble remembering to do my little stretches. I’m hopeless, really.
J
Thanks AC! The key for me is to make it routine, otherwise it doesn’t happen. Also, the accountability of not wanting to lose my streak has a surprising amount of power.
Nicole MacPherson
Many years ago – maybe 2008? – a yoga teacher said to me “there is a difference between going to yoga classes and having a yoga practice” and that really stuck in my head. I also practice daily and it is such a grounding thing for me. Even if it’s five minutes of a lotus/ stretch and meditation, it is so important to me. I love that you are enjoying it so much!
J
Thanks Nicole! Yes, I feel a difference between going to a class and doing yoga at home every day.
Margaret
That is an excellent resolution. I’ve tried yoga a few times and been a miserable failure at it. How does one fail at yoga?
J
LOL, I’m not sure…a lot of it is sitting and breathing.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
All my yoga skills have been learned by Adrienne. I came across these january challenges a few years back. I never managed a whole month but was planning on giving it a try as of tomorrow. Only to learn she has retired them. I may do the 2024 one.
Or I could join the Prana Practice. Heck why not. I am in.
J
Yay! Another yoga buddy!
Ernie
Gosh, I used to do a yoga class becuase it followed a high intensity class when I went to the health club in person and my little guys loved hanging out in the daycare. that was so long ago, but I do remember that I liked it and it made me feel stronger. I am considering trying the 7 day class. today was a rough day in the Shenanigan house, so I’ll plan to play it by ear. Do I have to sign on at a set time, or just click on the class whenever I’m ready to do it? *I’m the type of clueless person who believed that my workout teacher could see into my family room during covid when I first joined her FB live videos. My kids almost died laughing, because I was straightening up the family room in preparation. Ha.
J
No set time, just click the link when you are ready! I think they are posted at midnight or 1am EST, so any time would work. ANOTHER YOGA BUDDY! LET’S DO THIS!
Kyria @ Travel Spot
Nice work over the last years! I am definitely going to find a couple of fitness things to do for my routine, but I will not be starting until at least the 2nd and probably more like the 3rd. However, I may check out Adrienne and follow along with you, albeit a little later. I definitely need to get into a routine but am not exactly sure yet what it will look like, but will let you know once I do! Happy New Year!
J
I’m guessing with all of your travels, you will be walking a lot, so that’s good. I think yoga is great for days when you walk a lot, it helps your back.
Lisa’s Yarns
I used to consistently do yoga before kids and it was so good for me. I belonged to core power yoga which I loved. It was soo expensive but that was motivating for me. And it has a great HIIT yoga class that I enjoyed for cardio in the winter. Now I haven’t done yoga in years. I plan to do at least one class this year but in a studio. But I want to try some of these videos for some at home yoga that I could do in the evening after taco is in bed. I don’t like to work out at night but yoga before bed sounds really nice.
J
Yoga before bed can be great I think! I hope you find the right practice for that.
Alexandra
I have spend years saying I’ll get back into yoga, I’ll sign up for a class, I’ll do this or that and … of course, never do for whatever reason. Maybe what I need is something like this, an online yoga class I can do in the privacy of my own home without guilt or condemnation of “Oh you’re not doing that right.”
Maybe I won’t get through a whole month, but maybe it’s the kick start I need.
J
Join us to do the first week, see how you like it!
Alexandra
Ha! I just might.
Stephany
This is AMAZING. I want to start a yoga practice in 2025 – I’ll probably go to my gym for it as they have some great hot yoga classes that are very restorative. That’s mainly what I’m looking for. I just want a way to really stretch my body out and improve my balance/flexibility. I find yoga so hard, though! I think it’s all the balancing and I have weak wrists, so it’s not as easy as it looks.
J
Yoga can be so many things…it can be really hard, it can be really easy, it can be everywhere in the middle. It has really helped me with my aches and pains, and my balance. I don’t honestly feel like I’ve improved much in the flexibility aspect for some reason.